Sample Images

Specifications / Version History

The outer apperance of the lens has changed over time and regarding the optics early versions may actually use Zeiss glass produced in Germany and some later ones may have different coatings as well. So in case you are curious, take a look at the page sovietcams.com, for additional coverage.

I am reviewing a quite early lens from 1958 here (the first two digits of the serial number are the production year, 58 in this case) which has the following specifications:

Diameter: 58.0 mm

Field of view: 29° (diagonally)

Length: 76.0 mm

Weight: 318 g

Filter Diameter: 49 mm

Number of Aperture Blades: 15 (rounded)

Elements/Groups: 7/3

Close Focusing Distance: 1.1 m (with Helicoid ~0.7 m)

Maximum Magnification: 1:11.3 (with Helicoid 1:7.3)

Mount: M39 (aka LTM or Zorki)

A Jupiter-9 in good condition usually starts selling for $145 at ebay.com (affiliate link). In Germany buying one in A-condition will set you back at least 115€. I got mine at ebay.de (affiliate link).

Handling / Build Quality

Jupiter-9 85mm 2.0

There is quite some sample variation with these lenses. This one had an easy to operate aperture ring but a very stiff focusing ring. You can either try fixing this yourself with the help of some tutorials or videos on the internet or bring it to a repair shop instead. The best idea is of course to buy your lens from a trusted seller. I can recommened this ebay shop (affiliate link) as I have bought lenses there myself.
Turning the focusing ring from infinity to 1.0 m takes about 120°, turning the aperture ring from f/2.0 to f/22 takes about 80°. The aperture ring has no click stops. I prefer click stops but in case you consider filming with this lens you may prefer it the way it is. There is no official hood I know of. Using filters is not a problem as the filter ring doesn’t rotate.
This lens is made from aluminium which contributes to the low weight but is also very good at attracting scratches. Newer versions are still made from aluminum but painted black and don’t attract scratches as much to my experience.

Vignetting and colorcast

Taking the physical dimensions into account vignetting is suprisingly low at only 1.6 EV wide open and rarely noticeable further stopped down.

Sharpness

infinity
Wide open the lens is somewhat soft and not really contrasty in general. This can be favorable for portraits, for landscape and architecture, not so much. The center looks pretty good af f/2.8, the midframe at f/5.6 and the corners quite ok at f/11.

close focus
For these shots I was using the VM-E helicoid adapter at maximum extension (around 4 mm), so keep in mind you are looking at 100% crops of photos taken at the extended(!) minimum focus distance. The lens was never intended to be used at these distances and does not incorporate a floating elements design either, still the performance wide openisn’t all that bad. Stop down to f/2.8 and things look very good here.

Flare resistance

Sony A7s | Jupiter-9 85mm 2.0 | f/11

The flare resistance is certainly nothing to write home about and the lens certainly shows it’s age here. You get ghosts, other artifacts and much lower contrast.

Sony A7s | Jupiter-9 85mm 2.0 | f/11

Coma

Wide open the performance isn’t great here, stopping down to f/4.0 helps a lot. So stop down to at least f/4.0 when shooting city scapes or similar subjects.

Distortion

Distorion characteristics of Jupiter-9 85mm 2.0

There is very minor pincushion Distortion which I don’t consider an issue.

Bokeh

Certainly one of the strong points of the lens, in case you like Sonnar bokeh. The edges get blurred quite a lot as can be seen in the example above. There are no onion rings, hardly any outlining and because of the 15 rounded aperture bladeshighlights stay nearly perfectly round on stopping down.
Interestingly mechanical vignetting is not really an issue, because of the small dimensions of the lens this really suprised me.

Chromatic aberrations

The loCA correction is pretty good for such a fast yet old lens. In real world shooting I did not even once notice loCA in a bothersome way in any of my pictures. Only with the use of the helicoid adapter (which works as a 4 mm extension tube here) at the extended minimum focus distance loCA start to appear.

lateral

In the corners you can spot somelateral CAs which can be easily corrected in post, as can be seen in the example below (100% crop). This is one of the few lenses where the outlinings are yellow and purple instead of magenta and cyan.

Alternatives

Zeiss Batis 85mm 1.8:In case money isn’t really an issue and you prefer a native lens with AF and IS this lens might be for you. I haven’t used one myself but Jannik is currently using one and preparing a review.

Legacy SLR 85mm lenses:
85mm has always been a popular focal length so there are many legacy lenses to chose from. You can start having a look at this comparison.

Conclusion

good

bokeh

size / weight

price

correction of longitudinal CA

distortion

vignetting

average

correction of lateral CA

build quality

handling

not good

contrast/sharpness
wide open

flare resistance

sunstars

coma correction
(below f/4.0)

This lens has become quite the classic and I can definetly understand that. The lens is small, lightweight, affordable, offers great bokeh and stopped down sharpness isn’t bad either. Still I see it more as a special purpose lens for portraiture than a general purpose tele. Sharpness and especially contrastaren’t up to my taste for landscape and architecture, neither are the sunstars.
There are also lenses with better handling, as the aperture ring has no click stops you pretty much have to look at the lens when changing the aperture, which is something I don’t like. There also seems to be quite a bit sample variation. I have had two of these lenses so far, one with wobbly aperture ring and stiff focusing ring, the other one quite ok, so only buy from trusted sellers or be sure to try before buy.

So, who is this lens for? Anyone, who looks for a small yet fast and affordable portrait lens and can live with the so so build quality and handling. One thing is for sure: this is the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to rangefinder portrait lenses.

A Jupiter-9 in good condition usually starts selling for $145 at ebay.com (affiliate link). In Germany buying one in A-condition will set you back at least 115€. I got mine at ebay.de (affiliate link).

Further Reading

My name is Bastian and for many years I have been mostly shooting Nikon DSLRs. As of today I have made my transition from Nikon to Sony and I am mainly using small but capable manual lenses.
My passion is landscape photography but I also like to delve into other subjects from time to time.

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35 thoughts on “Review: Jupiter-9 85mm 2.0”

Great review! I bought this lens about three weeks ago and have enjoyed the unique and dreamy look that it gives to portraits and other pictures. I’m pretty sure my lens is a later edition that the one you reviewed as it is shorter, wider and matt grey. Though I currently only use cameras with APS-C sized sensors I look forward to trying this lens on a full frame camera body.

Great review! I bought this lens about three weeks ago and have enjoyed the unique and dreamy look that it gives to portraits and other pictures. I’m pretty sure my lens is a later edition that the one you reviewed as it is shorter, wider and matt grey. Though I currently only use cameras with APS-C sized sensors I look forward to trying this lens on a full frame camera body.

They are quite different, yes. I was also taking a closer look at the Contax G 90mm 2.8 which seems to be a great everyday tele lens with rarely any flaws but the noisy AF and the not so great manual focus experience rather let me down.
Optically the Contax is no doubt the better lens, but you buy the Jupiter for it’s soft rendering wide open which the Contax does not have.
Luckily they are both decently priced, so you may be able to acquire both 🙂

Congratulation, great review. I have a copy from 1951 with a Zeiss block and can fully confirm your test results. I added two lens hoods, both are working very good, especially in difficult light conditions:

Nice review, I enjoyed reading it. I was wondering if you had a chance to compare the M39 vs Kiev mount versions of this lens. I have the Kiev version and conventional wisdom on the net suggest Kiev version may have better coating and better performance wide open in regards to resolution and flare.

The Kiev and 39mm thread mount versions of the J-9 have the same optics and barrel; the focus mount and aperture ring are different. You can take the barrel out of a Kiev mount lens and put it into the M39 mount, just switch the aperture ring when you do- different thickness. The KMZ manufactured lenses had better quality control than later made lenses.

I m interested by jupiter 9 MOUNT for my SONY A 7R
I have adaptateur vm voigtländer ; Is it good to adapt a jupiter 9 85/2 MOUNT supposed M39 whith VM VOIGTLANDER as I can see in your revue
Think you very much and have a good day
Michel